OISE Aboriginal Advisory Council
The Aboriginal Advisory Council advises and supports OISE as it strives to achieve goals of the Accord on Indigenous Education, specifically:
- To create and sustain respectful and welcoming learning environments that instill a sense of belonging for all learners.
- To create respectful and inclusive curricula, including the promotion and development of culturally responsive curricula and to infuse Indigenous content and ways of knowing into all curricula at all levels.
- To promote culturally responsive pedagogies and improve the quality of knowledge, understanding, and pedagogic skills that all educators gain about Indigenous education and Indigenous knowledge systems.
- To value the study of Indigenous knowledge as scholarly activity.
- To promote assessment practices that support socially just relations within and beyond the classroom for Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.
- To fulfill a leadership role in supporting Aboriginal communities and involving other faculties in the promotion, reclamation, restoration, revitalization, and teaching of Indigenous languages.
- To support the development and extension of Aboriginal leadership in education.
- To foster all education candidates’ political commitment to Indigenous education, such that they move beyond awareness and act within their particular sphere of influence.
- To create and mobilize research knowledge, including Indigenous epistemologies, in order to transform Aboriginal education, teacher education, continuing professional education, and graduate programs.
The Council is an open-membership group that is comprised of Permanent Members and Observer persons, and is chaired by Dr. Suzanne L. Stewart, Special Advisor to the Dean of OISE on Aboriginal Education.
All members of the Council are individuals who have knowledge, experience and understanding of Aboriginal peoples, their values, histories, current issues and cultures, and who have knowledge and interests relevant to OISE’s mission and goals.
A copy of the terms of reference is available for download.